In recent years, electric connectors having numerous terminals are being used in the field of automobiles and the like, and are continually become more and more advanced. With an electric connector having numerous terminals, a large force is necessary to mate together connectors and release the connection. Therefore, in the field of automobiles and the like, a lever-type connector to mate with and release from a mating connector utilizing effect of boosting by a lever is used.
In a lever-type connector, mating of the mating connectors and releasing of the mated connectors are performed by rotating the lever. The mating with a mating connector is completed by locating the lever to a mating end position. Additionally, in the lever-type connector, in order to maintain mating of the mating connectors, a lock for preventing the rotation of the lever is provided.
In such a situation, in the lever-type connector in which mating with the mating connector is completed, an external force exerted onto the lock may unintentionally release the lever secured by a lock. Besides, in the lever-type connector, if the lever secured by the lock is released unintentionally, the mating with the mating connector may be in an unstable state.
Accordingly, the lever-type connectors capable of preventing the unintentional release of the lever secured by the lock have conventionally been developed.
As a lever-type connector capable of preventing the unintentional release of the lever secured by the lock, an example shown in FIG. 17 has been known.
A lever-type connector 100 shown in FIG. 17 includes a connector housing 110 for receiving contacts, a lever 120 attached to the connector housing 110 capable of rotation with respect to the connector housing 110, and a wire cover 130 attached on the rear surface side of the connector housing 110.
The lever 120 can be rotated to the left-right direction of FIG. 17. The lever 120 has a pair of assembled leg portions 121 and a connector 122 for connecting both of the assembled leg portions 121. Also, there are provided, at both of the assembled leg portions 121, cam grooves 123 for bringing into and pushing out cam pins 210, respectively. There is provided, at the connector 122, a lock 124 with which a catch 111 arranged at the connector housing 110 is locked. An end portion of the lock 124 has a release operation portion 125.
The rear surface of the wire cover 130 has an erroneous release regulator 131 formed to bulge rearwards.
In the lever-type connector 100, by rotating the lever 120 towards a locked position (see FIG. 17), the cam grooves 123 in both of the assembled leg portions 121 bring the cam pins 210 of the mating connector 200, respectively. Then, in the lever-type connector 100, by locating the lever 120 at the locked position, the mating with the mating connector 200 is completed. In the lever-type connector 100 in which the lever 120 is located at the locked position, the catch 111 of the connector housing 110 secures the lock 124 of the connector 122, whereby the lever 120 is locked.
Furthermore, in the lever-type connector 100 in which the lever 120 is locked, the erroneous release regulator 131 of the wire cover 130 does not easily allow an external force to be exerted onto the release operation portion 125 of the lock 124 in the lever 120. In the lever-type connector 100, this prevents the unintentional release, exerted by an external force, of the lever 120 secured by the lock 124 with the catch 111 of the connector housing 110.
In general, when the lever-type connector is assembled, the lever is positioned at the locked position and the lever is secured by the lock in order to prevent the lever from being damaged during transportation.
Then, when the lever-type connector and the mating connector are mated with each other, firstly, the lever secured by the lock is released, and then the lever located at the locked position is rotated to the released position. It is necessary to temporarily mate the lever-type connector with the mating connector when the lever is located at the released position.
It should be noted, however, that in the lever-type connector 100 shown in FIG. 17, in order to release the lever 120, it is necessary to insert a finger into the inside of the release operation portion 125 from the rear side of the wire cover 130 and rotate the lever 120 towards the released position while pulling the release operation portion 125 rearwards with the inserted finger. That is to say, in the lever-type connector 100, when the lever 120 is released, it is necessary to perform the operation of inserting a finger into the inside of the release operation portion 125, the operation of pulling the release operation portion 125 with the finger, and the operation of rotating the lever 120 with the finger. Accordingly, in the lever-type connector 100, there is a drawback in that the lock-releasing properties of the lever 120 are poor. Also, when the lock-releasing properties of the lever 120 are poor, there is the possibility that the working efficiency of an operator is degraded and the operator may damage the lever 120.